Shen Tingting, director of Asia Catalyst, said the move to abolish forced labour detention centres is positive but only a small step towards safeguarding the rights of sex workers.

"Chinese law and policies focus on prohibition and cracking down on sex work, rather than providing a framework to ensure the health and safety of sex work as a profession," she said.

In 2013, China announced it had abolished its system of "re-education through labour camps" for petty criminals.

That decision came after several high-profile miscarriages of justice, including a case where a mother was sent to a labour camp after demanding justice for her daughter who had been raped.

However, the abolition did not extend to the "custody and education" system affecting sex workers and their clients.

China isn't totally abandoning the idea of re-education. Authorities in the country claim a number of camps in the north-west region of Xinjiang are voluntary education camps that help to combat extremism.

However rights groups claim many Chinese Uighur people have been rounded up into the camps and made to criticise or denounce their faith.

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Media captionTesco suspends production at factory in China after allegations forced prison labour was used to pack charity Christmas cards.